Four Types of Ads To Avoid If You Want To Keep
Website Visitors Happy…
by Jason Smith
It seems like most websites are displaying ads on their web
pages these days. Some ads are not too noticeable while
others are so annoying that they push visitors away and
possibly make them leave the website. Pushing away
visitors or potential customers is never a webmasters’ goal so
it’s best to place ads in such a way as to avoid these kinds of
problems.
Pop-up and Pop-under Ads
Some of the most annoying ads come in the form of a pop-up
ad. This type of ad will open up a new browser window to
display itself, and the visitor will need to close it before
they can continue. Pop-Under ads are similar to the
pop-up, but this type of ad opens up behind the current browser
window so the user will only see it when they close their
browser. The Pop-Under can be really confusing to your
visitors as they thought they left the internet only to realize
that there is still another window open, and this one is trying
to sell them something.
Not only are pop-ups and pop-unders annoying, pop-up blockers
are freely available in most web browsers. When is the
last time you read a pop-up or pop-under ad? When one
squeaks by my pop-up blocker I immediately close it without a
second thought.
Interstitials
Interstitials are all over the internet, mostly on larger
websites. They can bring in a lot of revenue and a lot of
annoyance. Here is how they work. When you come to
a website you will first be shown a webpage with an ad of some
sort – a full page ad. To get past this page there is
usually a button to click that says something like “No
Thanks”. So your visitor is looking for information and
instead they get this annoying ad that they have to figure out
how to close. How annoying is that?
If you do decide to use interstitials anyway, make sure to use
JavaScript to make the window disappear after a several seconds
so that the visitor doesn’t have to click through.
That may make the ad a little less annoying. Also, do not
use tracking cookies as this can make the ad appear many times
if the user has cookies disabled.
Takeovers and Floating Ads
Now that mostly everyone has a pop-up blocker installed on
their computer, it is time for the pop-ups to evolve into
Floating ads and Takeovers. These ads appear over the
content on the top of the page. Sometimes there will be a close
button right away and other time it will appear after a few
seconds. Still other times the close button never appears
which is really annoying. Also if the close button is not
clicked exactly in the correct spot they may be taken to the
advertisers’ site. Many visitors don’t return to sites
that use these types of ads. So by using them, you may be
pushing your customers away.
System Error Ads
One more thing to avoid is the system error and spyware
infection ads. These ads will confuse many visitors and
make them go away. These ads pop-up in your face with a
message like “your computer is infected with spyware – click
here for a free scan”. These ads don’t know anything
about the user’s computer; they are just trying to trick them
into purchasing an inferior product.
As webmasters we all want to monetize our sites to their
fullest potential. However, some ads do more damage to
your sites image than anything else. Furthermore, even
though some of these tactics may work for the short term, I
really doubt that they are here to last as more and more
internet users become aware of the latest marketing ploys.
Jason Smith is an internet marketer specialized in
Home Based Businesses. He is the Webmaster for
http://www.XSiteProWebsiteDesignBuilder.com
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